The CWF Chronicles
by CCD19
Summary: 20 years after WWE, the Champions' Wrestling Federation is now the top promotion in America. Top fan favorite Daniel Cleveland makes his first run with the world title, but soon he and the rest of the CWF realize something far above themselves is at work.
1. Wrestlemania 49

Daniel Cleveland watched the action on the TV monitor in his personal dressing room. Two women were in the ring, wrestling for the Champions' Wrestling Federation's women's championship.

It was nearing the end of Wrestlemania 49. The massive crowd that filled the New United Center in Chicago was anxiously anticipating the main event of the night: His main event.

The match had been hyped for weeks upon weeks as the fight of the year. The match was a three-way free-for-all fight: himself against two of his biggest long-time rivals, Rob Nickels and Ricky Ulrich, the World Heavyweight Champion. All fighting for the richest prize in wrestling, the world heavyweight title belt that now rested on Ricky Ulrich's shoulders, but, he was convinced, was soon to be his.

He should be warming up for his match, but he had a vested interest in the current contest. The woman challenging for the title, Nichole Naomi, was his girlfriend of a year and a half, and it meant the world to her that he saw her win the championship belt for the third time.

They'd been going now for almost fifteen minutes, and both women were noticeably beginning to tire. They exchanged forearm blows to the face in the middle of the ring. One of them had to give out soon.

He stood up and began to stretch. The screen faded into the background as he turned his focus inward, mentally reviewing his two opponents.

Rob Nickels was one of the few competitors on the lower end of the heavyweight scale, like himself. He was also a member of the backstage and on-screen group called the Heels, who named themselves so after the term once used to describe scripted villains in pro wrestling, back before the unscripted CWF took over the WWE as the number-one wrestling organization in North America. He certainly fit the category of a Heel; a scriptwriter couldn't ask for a better villain character than Nickels. He consistently demonstrated a callous hatred for fellow wrestlers and fans alike, and did whatever he wanted to get his way. He was also known for being somewhat of a whiner when things didn't work out as he planned. And with his shaggy hair always hanging over half his face, and his skinny appearance, he just _looked _like a mean guy.

Ricky Ulrich, on the other hand, looked like a very nice guy, at least at first glance. With a six-pack body that made all the women jealous, he looked like the picture-perfect champion. But he, too, was a member of the Heels, and as the current champion, he was their de facto ringleader. He shared many of Nickels' ugly qualities, in addition to being perhaps the most stuck-up, arrogant person Daniel had ever met. To Ulrich, nothing was immoral or dishonorable, as long as he thought he could get away with it. His actions day in and day out repulsed Daniel to the core. If there were ever a man he could hate, it would be Ricky Ulrich.

His chances in this match, he knew, were not good. Ulrich and Nickels, despite being part of the same faction, were two very different people, but they did share one thing in common: A long rivalry with Daniel and a hatred for him that he couldn't understand. Each one would certainly be more motivated to beat him than to beat each other, and that could only work to Daniel's disadvantage.

He was snapped from his thoughts by a loud crash coming from the TV. Nichole had just taken Stephanie Aiden, the current women's champion, down from the top rope in a superplex, flipping her over her head while falling backwards, causing Stephanie to crash hard into the mat from about six feet in the air. She crawled over to cover the champion in a pin attempt. The referee counted to two, but Stephanie forced her shoulders off the mat before the count of three, which would have resulted in a pin.

Nichole and Stephanie had had their own rivalry for months now. With their sharply contrasting personalities, it was inevitable that any two women like them would probably have conflicts. Nichole was one of the gentlest, sweetest, quietest and most respectful women he'd ever met. Intensely devoted to her Christian faith, she never failed to credit God for her stellar talent, and she never showed outright hostility even towards her worst enemy. She was always modest in her speech, action and dress, currently donning a full loose wrestling outfit that exposed nothing beyond her arms and shoulders.

Stephanie, on the other hand, was a combination of Nickels and Ulrich's personalities combined into one. One of the top-level members of the Heels, she always dressed in complete black, and usually tried to show as much of her pale white skin as she could on a PG-rated show, to the delight of the audience. Ever since women's wrestling started to be showcased as a real athletic competition rather than just the audience's weekly eye candy, most of the women had stopped trying to be objects of lustfulness, but not her. On top of that, Daniel couldn't remember the last time a kind word had come out of Stephanie Aiden's mouth. Her constantly vulgar, lewd and hostile behavior was the sharpest contrast to Nichole that Daniel could think of. For months she had been spitefully calling Nichole a boring goody-goody and a religious hypocrite, labels that were frequently stuck onto Daniel as well. He could identify with every bit of frustration Nichole felt with Stephanie.

The "Diva of Darkness," as play-by-play broadcaster Paul Koss liked to call her, raked her sharp fingernails over the face of Nichole, scratching at her eyes like a cat. When Nichole bent over and covered her face, unable to see, Stephanie grabbed her in a front face lock, basically a headlock applied from the front. Daniel knew what was coming next. The women's champion jumped on top of the middle rope and spun 180 degrees, landing on her back on the mat while hanging on to the facelock, driving Nichole face-first into the mat. Her finishing move, the Tornado DDT. She turned Nichole onto her back and crawled on top of her, pulling her leg in towards her chest, making it harder for her to escape. However, Daniel knew the leg hook was entirely unnecessary, as Nichole didn't even move while the referee counted to three to count the pinfall. Stephanie Aiden was still the women's champion.

Daniel sighed, unimpressed with Stephanie's dirty tactics. Raking an opponent's eyes was illegal, but unfortunately tolerated by most referees. Once upon a time, Stephanie would have been immediately disqualified for pulling such a stunt, but the officials had realized a while ago that they couldn't control the Heels' cheating ways. He knew Nichole would be sorely disappointed in herself, no matter how she lost. Worse, he would have to wait to console her until after his own match. Now that the women's championship match was over, the world title match couldn't be more than five or ten minutes away.

Sure enough, as Daniel took a swig of water, there was a knock on his door. "Come in," he called, expecting a stagehand to tell him it was time for him to come out for his match.

Instead, it was two female wrestlers who entered the room. He greeted them warmly and invited them in. "What are you guys up to?" he asked.

"We just wanted to wish you luck," said the shorter one, Sarah Crittenton. Her bright, genuine smile lit up the room, and nearly made Daniel forget about the defeat he'd just witnessed. Sarah's presence was always an encouragement to him. They had grown up together in Cleveland, Ohio, and had been best friends throughout childhood. However, being on separate brands, they rarely got to see each other, except at pay-per-views like this one.

"We know you'll kick butt out there," declared the taller, leaner woman to Sarah's right, Lisa Davis. The spitfire young rookie spoke boisterously, balling her hands up into fists. She was Sarah's frequent tag-team partner and friend, somewhat of a protege to the veteran. With her constant enthusiasm and perpetually competitive spirit, she already knew how to push Daniel to do his best.

"Thanks, guys. This is huge for me. Ever since they promoted _Slam_'s title to the official world title, this has seemed like so much bigger. I've been the _Slam _champion three times, but never the world champion. I think it's time that changed."

"That's the spirit," Lisa affirmed.

"Well, no matter what happens," Sarah said calmly, "we're rooting for you."

"We believe in you!" Lisa shouted, half jokingly, but her sentiment was completely sincere.

"I appreciate it," Daniel replied, smiling. He embraced his two friends, grateful that they'd gone out of their way to pump him up.

"Dan Cleveland, you're up next." Now a middle-aged, goateed stagehand was waving him into the corridor.

"We'll be watching," Sarah said.

Daniel nodded at the two women and stepped out into the corridor. Ricky Ulrich's muffled entrance music began blasting throughout the arena. As Daniel ascended the metal stairs to the ground floor, the heavy metal tune became clearer. Once it stopped, Rob Nickels' entrance music began to play.

"One minute," someone told him as he approached the stage. He tensed up, waiting for the current music to stop and his own to begin.

Daniel was pumped. It had been a million times that a match of his had been hyped as the match of his career. This was the first time, however, that he truly believed it. Tonight he had the chance to be called the best in the world. He prayed a brief prayer. He knew his destiny was set, no matter what the outcome. He was ready.

--------------

Jack Jaskolski sat on a leather couch in his dressing room, fuming. He couldn't believe he'd lost his shot at the belt. That shiny golden belt that hung over Ricky Ulrich's shoulder meant everything to him, and he wasn't getting his hands on it anytime soon.

He'd wrestled in the first match of the night, the long-standing traditional Money in the Bank match. The goal was to be the first wrestler to climb a ladder and reach a briefcase, inside of which was a contract to face the world champion at any time within the next year. He had been so close.

But it had been Josh Rankin, one of those goody-two-shoes, always-pander-to-the-fans guys, who had grabbed the briefcase first. _Just lucky_, he knew. Because of Rankin, it was going to be quite some time before he got his hands on that title belt again.

As a new song began to play, the final challenger emerged not from the curtain, but from the far side of the stage. He stood still as a platform slowly raised him up onto stage level. This was a man Jack knew very well, but wished he didn't.

Daniel Cleveland walked alongside the edge of the stage donning a blindingly bright white robe, adorned with red crosses hanging over the edges of the sleeves and the ankles. He also wore a large one around his neck. _What a show-off_. He'd probably never touched that robe until now, just to be sure it was as squeaky clean as possible. He knew it was supposed to represent something about him being free and cleansed from his sins because of Jesus Christ. Why did he have to parade it around like he was so much better than everyone else? It made Jack sick, and it made most of his fellow Heels sick as well, even some people who weren't Heels.

As he began to walk down the ramp, the slow, sad song that had been playing changed to a faster song, Cleveland's normal entrance music. Halfway down the ramp, Cleveland dropped to his knees and raised his arms in the air, mouthing what Jack guessed was some sort of prayer, while fireworks went off in the background. _Also a copycat_, he thought. Cleveland borrowed that routine from the legendary Shawn Michaels, a wrestler from the 1990s and 2000s who was also a Christian. But a much more respectful and honorable one than the man entering the ring.

Cleveland posed on the ropes, going to each of the four corners and crossing his arms, holding one of them vertically and the other horizontally, forming a "T" shape. Looked just like a cross. Jack wished that either Rob or Ricky would knock him down from the top rope right at that moment. It would certainly be funny at the very least.

Seeing Daniel Cleveland in the ring tonight maddened him most of all because it brought back memories of last year, at this same time, back at Wrestlemania 48 in Philadelphia. _He _had been the one in that ring with the championship belt around his waist, and Daniel Cleveland had taken it from him that night. Since then, he had never touched that belt again. It should be _him _that was in that ring, fighting for that title, not Cleveland. But there was nothing he could do about it. No matter who won this match, he was not getting a chance at the title tonight, or any night soon. Or at least that's what it seemed.

At that moment, he made a decision: He was determined to take that money in the bank briefcase back from Josh Rankin. It was going to be his.

------------

Daniel stared directly into the eyes of the World Heavyweight Champion. Even as Ricky Ulrich handed the belt over to the referee, and the referee displayed the belt to each side of the audience, Daniel did not break his gaze from the champion.

"It's not up to me what happens tonight," Daniel said.

"Oh, but it is up to me. You're not winning my title," Ricky shot back.

"We'll see about that."

The bell rang, and the three parties circled each other. Trying to be as quick and sudden as he could, Daniel turned and nailed Rob Nickels with a somewhat light right hand to the jaw. He turned toward Ricky and hit him with one as well. Whipping back to his left, he hit Rob with a couple of fists to the face, then turned around and backhanded Ricky right in the chest with a perfect chop. He delivered a mule kick to Rob's knee with his left leg and drove his forearm into Ricky's face, following it up with a right hand. Turning back toward Rob, he gave him a quick kick to the gut and a right hand to the temple, but finally Ricky was able to recover in time to nail him in the back.

Instantly Daniel panicked, wanting to avoid the double-team that would inevitably come from the two fellow Heels. Before he could react, though, they were right on top of him and knocked him down to the mat. Pain shot through his back as he felt several kicks connect with his ribs and spine. He rolled onto his back to protect it, and saw that his opponents were staring each other down. He tried to back toward the ropes, hoping to pull himself up, but his movement turned their attention back on him. When they approached, he kicked with both his feet, hitting both of them in the knees. He then was able to pull himself up and back into the corner, where he chopped an oncoming Rob in the chest. That left him open for a right-hand punch from Ricky to his temple. Ricky grabbed Daniel by the hair, compounding the pain as he hit two more punches to the face. Rob returned to the action, and they switched to his stomach, pelting him with kicks. He was hardly able to breathe as the kicks struck his ribs and abdomen, causing more pain with each successive blow. He had no defense against this—he would just have to wait it out.

He hit the floor outside of the ring hard on his back as Ricky threw him out. And now his two opponents were coming toward him outside of the ring. There was no way he was letting that happen. As quick as he could, he rolled back into the ring and tried to stand up, but collapsed back to the mat, wincing as the kicks were still having their painful effect on his ribs. He had to use the ropes in the corner to pull himself up, but once he did he was able to hurl a chop in Rob's direction, making contact, and then the same to Ricky. A kick to the gut from Rob caused him to double over, and he instinctively reached out, grabbing his long shaggy hair. He threw him into the corner and held onto his hair, pounding him with several punches in anger before Ricky clipped the back of his knee. Daniel went down to one knee as pain shot through his leg, but he grabbed Rob by the waist and lifted him up to the top rope. Rob used his forearm to strike the back of Daniel's neck. He recoiled, but did his best to absorb the blow and lift Rob up to his shoulders. But then there was Ricky again, clipping the same knee and saving Rob, this time sending waves of pain shooting through Daniel's entire right leg and causing him to go down to the mat again. It was only three minutes into the match and he already felt like he was slipping, losing control.

----------------

Broadcasters Paul Koss and Mark Waller witnessed the action from their commentators' table at ringside, informing their worldwide television audience of every move.

"There's that knee again," Paul Koss pointed out. "That's Daniel Cleveland's one weak point is that knee."

"Both of those knees," Mark Waller corrected.

"Yes, you're right, Daniel's had problems with both of his knees during his career, and opponents rarely fail to exploit those injuries."

"Cleveland may not have a chance to get back in this thing. Nickels and Ulrich could effectively eliminate him and make it down to just the two of them," Mark pointed out.

"They could, but eventually there has to be dissension. They are both so hungry for that title and will do anything to win it, there's bound to be some conflict between the two."

"Yeah, well, what's that they say? 'My enemy's enemy is my friend'? That could ring true in this case."

"Well, it's not looking good for Cleveland here, we'll see what happens."

-------------

Daniel's right knee was being attacked again. Rob pulled him by the hair to his feet and Ricky held his arms back as Rob punched him a few times in the forehead. Using a sudden burst of energy, despite the pain in his face and his knee, he delivered a quick kick to the gut with his left foot and it connected with Rob's ribs. Rob bent over, surprised at the quick blow, and Daniel used the chance to wriggle out of Ricky's hold and throw a wild chop, hitting his chin instead of his chest. Daniel turned around and nailed an unsuspecting Rob with a right hand, sending him into the corner. He tried to throw Rob out of the ring to make it one-on-one, but Rob held onto the ropes and stayed on the apron. Daniel had to move toward Ricky, and Ricky was ready with a punch of his own that connected with Daniel's jaw. That stunned him and sent him back to the ropes, right in front of where Rob was on the apron. Dazed, he didn't know what to do now, but he was able to make out Ricky charging at him to knock him out of the ring, and he ducked. He rolled over twice to get away from Ricky and noticed Ricky had stopped, and Rob on his back on the outside. He had just what he wanted--Ricky had accidentally hit Rob off the apron, and they both knew it.

While Ricky was looking down at the floor, Daniel saw his chance! He scampered over behind him and rolled him up with an inside cradle, pinning his shoulders to the mat--one, two, no! Daniel felt Ricky slip just out of his grasp. Now on the offensive, he approached Ricky, who had gotten up and backed into a corner, but he didn't expect him to stick his hand out and jab a thumb into his eye. He suddenly saw what seemed like a flash in his right eye, which was temporarily blinded from the poke. Ricky then hit a hard right hand to the jaw, knocking Daniel back down to the mat.

-----------

"Ricky Ulrich seems to be in firm control here," Mark observed. "Cleveland can't seem to mount any offensive here."

"Well, Ricky needed that thumb to the eye to gain the advantage--"

"Hey, it's no disqualification. Anything's legal."

"Granted. But I'm saying it's not a clear indication of who's going to win this match."

Ulrich reached back and hit Daniel hard with a chop. "Hey! Ulrich with a chop to the chest in the corner, and that looks like it stung!"

"Ulrich throwing a couple of rights and lefts, and grabbing the hair, a hard right hand to the forehead!" Koss yelled. "Hey, look who's getting back in the ring!"

"There's Rob Nickels, and he ain't happy!"

--------------

For once Daniel was grateful that Rob had entered the ring. Rob spun Ricky around by the arm and got right into his face, asking what that was all about, knocking him off the apron. Ricky said it was an accident. Rob said something along the lines of, that was convenient, wasn't it? Daniel couldn't hear every word, because his jaw was hurting and he was pretty sure he'd have a deep bruise under his left eye tomorrow. However, he certainly saw Ricky lay into Rob with a hard right hand, knocking him back to the adjacent corner he was in. The double-team was over!

Rob and Ricky were now at each other's throats. Rob started to duck and cover his head, but when Ricky started to step back, Rob nailed him with a punch to the eye. Rob hit another punch, and then his strange uppercut that looked like the inside of his elbow was hitting his opponent's chin. Ricky was staggered back by it, though, and went into the corner.

Daniel felt a surge of energy as Rob clotheslined Ricky over the top rope. As Rob approached him, he surprised him with a quick kick to the stomach. He grabbed Rob's head and slammed into the corner turnbuckle, and without hesitation, unleashed a flurry of fast chops to the chest.

When he moved in for another attack, suddenly he saw a pair of hands grab Rob's head. Ricky Ulrich had moved back in. After a brief battle, Ricky somehow managed to give Rob a massive suplex over the top rope, and Rob took a very hard landing on the outside of the ring. Daniel felt a guilty rush of hope. Could one of his opponents be eliminated?

----------

"That was a pretty hard fall there by Nickels, and he's not moving. I think we may need to get some medical help out here," Mark said.

"He very may well be out of this match," Paul Koss concurred.

"Ulrich gets met coming back in with right hands by Cleveland! Cleveland now gaining some momentum with punches to the face!"

"There's a chop..." Mark called.

"Cleveland sending Ulrich to the ropes, oh! Kick to the face by Ulrich!"

"Oh wow, I think that caught Cleveland right in the nose; he could have a broken nose there."

"Let's check out that kick again on instant replay, folks."

The guys in the back put on the instant replay, and Paul watched the kick solidly connect with Daniel's mouth and nose. However, he missed what Mark saw next.

"Oh, a huge clothesline, P.K.! Cleveland may be out! Cover!"

"Whoa, one, two, and Cleveland kicks out!" Paul couldn't contain his relief. "I was watching the replay and didn't see that clothesline."

"Look at Ulrich, with those punches to the face while Daniel's down. He is not happy now."

"What's Ulrich looking to do here?" Mark asked as he turned Daniel over onto his stomach.

"Well, he's going to go after that left knee, that's what!" Paul declared as if it was obvious. "Daniel Cleveland has had problems with that knee over the course of his career," he reminded the viewers. "Ulrich with an elbow drop on the back of the knee, and now Ulrich is in firm control."

----------

Daniel's left knee was being twisted like a pretzel. He couldn't help but yell out in pain as Ricky tightened the submission hold. He turned his entire focus on just getting to the ropes. After struggling in the hold for what seemed like several minutes, he kicked Ricky in the side with his free leg, allowing him to wriggle free of the hold and grab the ropes. That wasn't the end, though. Ricky, seemingly calmly, walked over to the ropes and stomped Daniel's prone ribs. He kicked Daniel again, and then again, and just when it seemed like the blows wouldn't stop, Ricky suddenly got tackled away from him!

Rob had come into the ring, recovered from the suplex he had taken to the outside several minutes ago. Daniel couldn't see what was going on, but he could hear that Rob and Ricky were fiercely fighting. He rolled to his side in time to see Ricky laying into Rob with right hands in the corner and Rob coming back with a low blow. He was more than happy to let them go at it for a couple minutes as he recuperated. He rolled outside the ring, just to be sure. Rob put Ricky on the top rope and they fought up there for a minute, trading punches to the gut. Ricky hit a punch to the face, momentarily knocking Rob off balance, but Rob regained control and hit a massive superplex off the top rope! Daniel could feel the ring rattle where he sat, but he quickly saw Rob cover Ricky on the other side of the ring. One, two, but Ricky kicked out, thankfully. Daniel breathed a sigh of relief as he crept around the ring. Rob smashed Ricky with several forearm shots to the face, and then covered him again, putting his feet on the ropes for leverage, but Daniel bumped his feet off the ropes. He then mustered all the strength he could and pulled Rob to the outside.

Daniel dodged an attempted baseball slide by Ricky and nailed him with a right hand. He followed up with a chop, leaning him back against the security barrier that separated the fans from the ring. Setting Ricky up for a suplex on the outside, Daniel lifted him up to flip him over his head, but felt a pair of sharp right hands to his ribs. He released the hold and stepped back, holding those ribs that had already taken their share of kicks. Looking up, he saw Ricky reach back and swing with all his might. No! But Daniel ducked and caught Ricky by the legs. He lifted Ricky up and dropped him back-first on the security barrier.

He dropped to a sitting position out on the floor, wincing in pain which surged throughout his entire body. He had to catch a breather. But there were no breathers at Wrestlemania. After just a few precious seconds, he spotted Rob rising to his feet and stumbling toward him. Daniel readied himself and threw a punch, which landed on Rob's shoulder, missing its target. Rob answered with a punch to the forehead. Daniel switched strategies and kneed him in the gut. With a glance behind him, he grabbed Rob by the arm and slammed him as hard as he could into the steel steps that led up to the ring, shoulder-first. Not waiting for Rob to fall, he drove a hard knee right into his nose. He dropped to his knees after the blow, stopping to catch his breath. Immediately he noticed the red spot on his white knee-length tights. Rob's nose was bleeding profusely. He knew this was his chance, and he grabbed Rob around the waist and tried to lift him back into the ring.

-----------

Suddenly, though, Ulrich came up from behind and threw Daniel hard into the security wall. His spine connected with the wall and he went down. Ricky then threw Nickels into the ring and quickly made a cover for a two-count. "Oh, that was so close! Ulrich might have had this won!" Paul Koss exclaimed. He looked at the timekeeper's clock, which read sixteen minutes. This match seemed to be winding down to its conclusion, a relatively short match for a Wrestlemania main event.

"That's not going to keep Daniel down for long though, look, he's already getting back in the ring," said Mark.

"Ulrich catches him, though, and now stomping away on those ribs," replied Paul. Ulrich got down on his knees and started hitting Cleveland's back with several hard forearm blows.

"Cleveland now turning to his back," he said, "but Ulrich meets him there with an elbow drop to the stomach. Cover! One, two, no, kickout!"

"Come on now, P.K., you didn't think an elbow drop was going to keep Cleveland down, did you?"

"I should have known better, Mark. What an exciting match!"

"Oh ho, and it's about to get more exciting. Where is Ricky going?"

"Ulrich going to the outside and he's looking under the ring for a weapon, Mark! This is a no disqualification match, anything goes. He can use whatever weapons he wants."

"And so can the other two competitors. Oh, Cleveland and Nickels have now spotted each other. Cleveland with a hard right hand!"

"Cleveland is aware of Ulrich on the outside, and he's going for him, but there's Nickels from behind! A hard blow to the back and now throwing Cleveland out of the ring!"

"P.K., this could be what decides it now. Oh look, Ulrich grabbing Nickels' leg--"

"But Nickels gets free with a stomp to his hands!"

Mark chuckled. "Pretty clever stuff, huh?"

"Indeed, Mark. Now Nickels throwing ULRICH into the steel steps, Ulrich hits knees first and flips over! Oh wow! What a match!"

"Wait! Cleveland from behind with a German suplex on the floor! And we saw that fall Nickels took to the back of the neck earlier, that's gonna aggravate it all over again!"

"You might be right, Mark. All three men are down on the outside."

-----------

Daniel knew he had to be the first one to get to his feet. He knew that could very well decide the match. He forced himself to rise to his knees. Now he had to choose--which opponent was the weaker one? Which one would he have the best shot at pinning at this point? He looked to Rob, and he looked to Ricky. He thought Rob was the best chance now. He got to his feet, walked over to Rob, and rolled him into the ring. First, he laid Rob out on his back over the apron and elbowed him right in the chest. He then rolled him into the ring and covered. One, two, no! Rob kicked out. That was fine--Daniel had been expecting it. He threw a few punches into Rob's face, further bloodying his already bloody nose.

Daniel pulled Rob up to his feet, not knowing exactly what he wanted to do. As he pulled Rob to his feet, he didn't expect at all the finger that came right at his eyes in the next second. Rob literally dug into his face and raked his eyes as hard as he could--both of them. Daniel was blinded for a second and didn't see the right hand coming at his face. He didn't see the second, either. All he could do was try and get hold of Rob with his legs, maybe find him and take him down that way. He feared there was permanent damage to his eyes. He was so exhausted, though, he couldn't panic. His goal was the title. He had to pin a man. After a third right hand grazed his nose when he turned away from it just in Paule, both his legs found Rob's, and he was able to give him a drop toe hold. However, that was only temporary as Rob punched him in the face, this time in the bridge of the nose, and began to choke him. Whoa! There was no disqualification, how was he going to get out of this!?

Daniel, within a split second, decided that it was no DQ--he could do what Rob had done. So he reached up and raked Rob's eyes as hard as he could. He knew he didn't get as much as Rob got, but it was enough. Rob let go and took a couple steps backwards. Daniel was just now beginning to see clearly again, and he went for a punch, but Rob had the wherewithal to duck it in time. Rob punched Daniel in the stomach and whipped him to the corner. Absorbing the blow to his stomach, Daniel saw an opportunity, and hoped Rob would charge at him. The guy did charge at him, and Daniel knew exactly what to do. Even in his exhausted state, he moved out of the way at the last second. Rob tripped, falling to his knees, then got back up to his feet after hitting his face on the second turnbuckle. Daniel wrapped his arms around Rob's waist and popped his hips, lifting him completely over his body in another German suplex. Time for a couple more. He rose to his feet and hit a second suplex, and then struggled up again and hit a third. He stayed down on his back for a few seconds after that, knowing he could now get some rest, but then he realized his goal was not to rest but to pin somebody. So he quickly scampered over to cover Rob. One, two, thr--no! Daniel kicked himself inwardly, because he'd given Rob enough time to recover and kick out.

Daniel slowly rose to his feet and lifted Rob up with him, preparing to hit his finisher, which he called the Capital Punishment. With Rob bent forward, he lifted his arms up and linked them with his own. He prepared to jump into the air and land on his knees, driving Rob's face into the mat in the process. However, he never saw Ricky, and the chair connecting with the side of his head, until he was down on the mat seeing stars.

He fought unconsciousness, but forced himself to stay aware. His head throbbed, but he was still aware. But still, Daniel couldn't help but think this might be it. His run might be over. He was lying prone on the mat and Ricky had only to get one more good move in and he could be pinned in a second. _What was he thinking?_ That wasn't the way to go. Ricky pulled him up to his feet, and he got ready. He still had a little bit left in the tank. Ricky whipped him off the ropes, and he ducked a clothesline. Now there was only one thing he could do as he came off the other side of the ring ropes--he threw his entire body at Ricky with all his might, putting his forearm out in front of him, and flew right into Ricky.

The flying forearm connected full force, and Ricky went down. The crowd had popped hugely--Daniel heard their screams while lying on the mat. He knew exactly what they expected him to do. So he put his arms behind his head, reached back, and leaped up with all the force he could muster. Seeing Rob coming at him, he ducked a right hand, lifted him up and then set him back down right onto his knee. He then knocked Rob to the mat with a right hand. He kicked Rob in the ribs as he rolled out of the ring. Daniel turned back toward Ricky, who was just getting up, and lifted him up and scoop slammed him. This could be it! He climbed up to the top rope and measured the leap he was about to make. After a second of hesitation, he leapt off the top rope, landing his elbow right on Ricky's chest.

Rising off the mat in a painful daze, Daniel also felt a surge of adrenaline. This was it! Daniel was going to do it! He shook off the cobwebs from the hard chairshot to his head, and went to the corner where Rob was opposite of, to prevent Rob from stopping him. He stomped his right foot on the mat once. Twice. A third time. He was tuning up the band, as it was called, for a side kick to the chin, known better by its original name, Sweet Chin Music. He stamped the mat two more times until Ricky got to his feet, and then went for the full-force kick.

He stretched his right leg as high as it could go, aiming for Ricky's chin. Putting all the force he could into it, he thrust his foot forward and sideways.

CRACK! The kick connected with Ricky's jaw, and Ricky went down on his back. The crowd erupted, and Daniel was fully ready to cover and pin Ricky for the three-count.

But Daniel didn't see Rob slowly rising to his feet until he had grabbed him by the head, directly in position for his finishing move, the RKO. Rob leaped up into the air, and landed on his back while holding Daniel face-first toward the mat. Daniel's face impacted the mat with full-force as the RKO connected.

Daniel's forehead smashed into the mat, and his nose did as well. Pain shot through his entire body and he almost involuntarily rolled over halfway to his back. For a moment he barely knew what had hit him, but within a split second it occurred to him that he was going to be pinned, and that meant losing the match and his shot at the World Title. He kept his body in an ever-so-slight motion as he now saw Rob roll him to his back and cover him. In one smooth, fluid motion, he kept his legs moving, and with nearly every bit of energy left in his tired body, he kicked into the air, and lifted his right shoulder off the mat.

----------

"OH MY GOSH!" Paul Koss exclaimed. "Daniel Cleveland just kicked out of the RKO!

"That deadly finisher, that move that strikes as quickly as a snake, couldn't finish off Daniel Cleveland!" Mark nearly screamed into his headset.

"Nickels is incensed!"

Now a furious Nickels slowly backed away from Cleveland, right into the corner opposite him, and crouched in a sprinter's position. The look on his face was pure evil. "Oh no, we've seen this before," said Paul, with a tone of urgency. "If the RKO wasn't enough to win, this will be."

--------

Daniel got a quick glance over at Rob, who was backing up to the corner and crouching in a sprinter's position. He was halfway out of it, but he had the wherewithal to know what Rob was going to try and do. When he saw Rob out of the corner of his eye coming for him, he ducked, completely flattening himself on the ground. Rob's foot missed his head, and he rolled to his back in time to see a great sight: Ricky had come back into the ring, still quite out of it from the superkick he had received just about thirty seconds before. He was having a hard time keeping his balance, but Rob charged right into him, and Ricky grabbed him and quickly hit the Rickroll--a face-first drop on the mat from a standing position. This was right near the ropes, and Rob rolled out of the ring.

It seemed that had taken everything out of Ricky, and Daniel crawled over to him. He knew exactly what he had the chance to do now. He was pretty sure it was academic at this point. The RKO had not affected his thought process. Ignoring the shock waves of pain that coursed through his body, he slowly rose to his knees, and grabbed Ricky in a front face-lock. As he rose to his feet, he hooked Ricky's left arm, then his right, in his own. He then finally got to a full standing position, and jumped up in the air. Landing on his knees, he drove Ricky's face full force into the mat. Right in the middle of the ring.

Rolling Ricky onto his back, Daniel hooked Ricky's right leg and covered him. One. Two. THREE! That was it!

For a moment he barely realized what had happened. As soon as the referee's hand hit that mat a third time, everything that he'd been keeping held in check came to the surface, and he dropped to the mat in severe pain. But through that pain, the man in black and white reached out his hand and helped him to his feet.

"That was a hell of a match, man," he said. "This is yours. Congratulations." And with both hands, he carefully presented to Daniel the World Heavyweight Championship.

Daniel had done it. It was amazing. He had won the World Title. He fell to his knees and uttered a quick, but completely sincere prayer: "Thank You, God." God had granted him the gift he had desired. He had granted him the strength and endurance to get through this match, and the ability to win it. He couldn't believe it.

The colossal crowd had erupted in a standing ovation as soon as the referee's hand hit the mat for three. As the ref gave him the title belt and raised his arm in victory, Daniel raised the title belt above his head.

After proudly displaying the belt to the raucous crowd, he looked toward the entrance ramp and saw several people walking down it. These weren't enemies—they were friends. Among them were Sarah, Lisa and Naomi. One by one, they each came up and congratulated him. The only people missing were the Heels.

Daniel felt as if he was about to cry; he was so amazed that he had won the title. He knew he had a chance, but...it still seemed so surreal.


	2. PostWrestlemania Night

_**After Wrestlemania 49**_

Finally, Daniel was able to pack up his things. Zipping up the last bag, he slung it over his shoulder and exited his locker room. He walked down the lit corridor, passing up halls and rooms that were already darkened. Past midnight, most of the crew had gone.

He pulled his keys out of his bag and put them in his pocket. He was about to exit the building when he spotted Sarah and Lisa walking out the door into the cold Chicago night. He caught up to them and approached from behind. "See you guys next month?" he asked.

"Yeah, we'll see you then, and we'll also see you tomorrow," Sarah answered.

"Tomorrow? You guys are coming to watch Slam? Isn't that kind of out of your way?"

"Not if we're on it," Lisa replied.

Daniel paused. "You don't mean..."

"Yes," Sarah answered with a smile. "We just got transferred to Slam. Pretty sweet!"

"I'll say! We'll get to be on the same show again!" Daniel replied excitedly.

"And here's the best part," Lisa said, her voice growing louder and more excited, "in a few weeks she's going to be wearing Slam gold right along with you!"

"Really?" Daniel raised an eyebrow. "That fast?"

"Don't be so surprised," Sarah replied sarcastically, before laughing to show that she was only kidding. "Yeah, Seay made me number-one contender for the women's title! It's great! Being on Crash there hasn't been a women's title, but now I finally have a shot at it again! How long's it been? Three years?"

"At least," he replied.

"I mean, I've enjoyed being on Crash, but I'm really excited for the chance to wear gold again."

Daniel smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm excited for you too," he replied. "You're going to be the next CWF Women's Champion."

"For sure," Lisa chimed in, slapping Sarah on the back.

"We'll just have to see," she said, shrugging. "Whatever is meant to happen will happen."

"Absolutely," Daniel replied.

They walked in silence for a few moments before coming up to a sleek black sports car. "This is us," Sarah said.

"All right, cool," Daniel replied. "So I'll see you both tomorrow?"

"Yes," said Sarah. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, both of you."

_**Monday Night Slam**_

_**April 4, 2033**_

_**Milwaukee, Wisconsin**_

The fireworks shot off all around the Bradley Center to open Monday Night Slam. Daniel Cleveland nervously stood behind the entrance curtain, carrying his newly-won gold over his shoulder. The cool metal gave him chills whenever it touched his skin. He'd possessed this belt for 22 hours and it still felt so new. He was thrilled to be carrying it.

After last night, he'd almost felt guilty holding it when he came across Nichole backstage. It was a hard conversation to console her. Now she was traveling with _Crash_, which would be in Madison this Friday. She wasn't present at the building tonight. He had managed to convince her that she would win the belt when her time was right, and she had agreed. Thankfully, Nichole wasn't obsessed with gold, unlike most people around the CWF.

They were calling him a four-time world champion, but in fact this was the first time he had held the world title. His previous three runs were with the Slam championship, now newly promoted to the world title. Once the fireworks stopped, he waited for his music to begin. It was customary for the new champion to give a victory speech at the start of the show following his win. That was what he was about to do here.

The music suddenly resounded throughout the arena, and on that cue, Daniel stepped out onto the stage in front of 55,000 screaming fans. With a huge, genuine smile on his face, he strolled down the entrance ramp. When he reached the middle, at the appropriate point in his song, he knelt down and spread his arms in the air, emulating his favorite WWE star from his early childhood. "Thank you, God," he said out loud as fireworks shot into the air at the top of the stage behind him. When he rose, he walked to the edge of the ramp and slapped the hand of every fan that was reaching out toward him. He patted a few little kids on the head before moving back to the other side of the ramp and doing the same.

After trying to reach all the fans he could, he entered the ring and climbed the ropes. He crossed his arms in a T shape, drawing many boos from the crowd. Then he held up the world heavyweight title belt to enthusiastic cheers. He rolled his eyes and smiled. It was a mystery to him. Fans didn't like his beliefs, but they still liked him.

After posing that way in all four corners, he grabbed a microphone and waited for what seemed like an eternity for the fans to settle down. They wouldn't stop cheering. Daniel shrugged and soaked it in. Five years ago he would have received massive boos. It was amazing how far he'd come since then.

Finally the crowd grew quiet enough for him to speak. "I appreciate the love, Milwaukee!" he said, causing the fans to get riled up again. When the deafening cheers kept up for another half-minute, he finally said, "Hey guys, don't wear yourselves out for tonight. There's plenty of action to come your way. Save your voices!" He laughed.

"In case you didn't see it, last night at Wrestlemania 49, just a couple hours down I-94 in Chicago, I pinned Ricky Ulrich to win the World Heavyweight Championship." More boisterous cheers. Again he waited before continuing.

"Now, I have been called a four-time world champion, but this is the first time this title has ever been known by that name. So I consider myself a three-time Slam champion and a one-time world champion. This title means more to me than any before it.

"But I didn't win this belt on my own. I could never do that. The true credit goes out to my friends who believed in me and encouraged me day in and day out...to all of you great fans...and to God." He paused to hear the fans' reaction. They weren't feeling Daniel's final sentiment, but Daniel didn't let it faze him. They were entitled to their own opinion. He continued on.

"Without God--" Daniel began, but he was cut off by an unpleasantly familiar entrance tune. After a couple seconds, Ricky Ulrich and Rob Nickels both emerged from behind the curtain and walked down the ramp. With scowls on their faces, they ignored the fans reaching out to slap their hands and entered the ring. Both were holding microphones.

When the music stopped, Ricky immediately began to speak. "Without God what?" he asked fiercely, looking straight at Daniel with fire in his eyes. "Without God we're all going to hell? If we don't believe the exact same thing that you do, we're all going to burn forever?"

Daniel was taken aback at Ricky's accusing tone. It was true that he believed that, but he hadn't planned on preaching hellfire and brimstone tonight. "Well," he said, hesitating, "I wasn't planning on going there..."

"But it is what you believe," Ricky stated. "But why don't you tell us about that side of your God, Cleveland? In fact, why do you hardly ever say anything about your God at all, except that he supposedly gives you everything?"

Ricky bored his eyes into him. Daniel looked down at the mat, trying to think of a good response. None was coming to mind. He knew what he believed, but there was a reason he didn't preach hellfire and brimstone to the fans. He just couldn't put it into words.

"You know what?" Rob chimed in. "I don't really care. What I care about is that world title on your shoulder. It should be mine, and I want it." He gave Daniel a menacing glare.

"No, no," Ricky replied, "_we _want it. _Both _of us want our rematches at the belt. And we'll do whatever we can, whenever we can, to get them."

Daniel took a step back. He had no interest in a 2-on-1 fight tonight. "Hold on now," he said. "You, Ricky, were the world champion. _You _get a rematch." Then he turned to Rob. "_You_ were never supposed to be _in _the match in the first place. You weaseled your way into it by taking Hannah hostage." He cringed at the memory. Two weeks before Wrestlemania, Rob had threatened to give Hannah Shannon the RKO unless he was accepted into the match, and Daniel had acquiesced. "_You _do not get a rematch because you never held the title in the first place."

Rob took another step toward him. "I got my shot no matter what it took," he growled, "and I can do it again right now." Rob and Ricky approached Daniel, looking as if they were going to attack. Realizing a fight was inevitable, he balled up his fists, at the ready.

Suddenly, a second before he was prepared to throw the first punch, a new entrance song hit, one that Daniel hadn't heard on _Slam _before. Nonetheless, he recognized it perfectly. Sarah Crittenton and Lisa Davis walked side by side down the ramp and entered the ring to a shower of cheers. The fans clearly hadn't been expecting them. Judging by the looks on their faces, neither had Ricky and Rob.

Sarah wasted no time in grabbing a microphone. Before she spoke, though, she paused and looked out at the fans. "Thank you," she said. After waiting for the cheers to die down, she addressed the fans again: "I came out here for a couple of reasons," she explained. "One, I wanted to make a personal declaration to you that Sarah Crittenton and Lisa Davis are now the newest members of Monday Night _Slam_." That earned her a very enthusiastic reaction. Sarah had been a fan favorite her entire career, and the crowd was very happy to see her tonight.

"Second," she said, turning toward Ricky, "I have something to say to you." She pointed her finger at his chest, stepping toward him.

Ricky laughed. "Am I supposed to be intimidated by you?" he asked, looking down his nose at the five-foot-five woman standing before him. "Because I'm not in the slightest."

Sarah ignored that remark. "The reasons we don't yell at people, call them sinners, and condemn them to hell are too complex to explain properly in just a couple of minutes," she told him. "I could try, I suppose."

Ricky shook his head. "Quite frankly, I don't really care," he said. "The fact is that religion is the very thing that's thrown our world into the state it is today, and the people deserve to know the full extent of what your so-called 'faith' entails." The people, Daniel could tell, weren't quite sure what to make of this, as Daniel heard very little reaction from the crowd.

He looked at Lisa on the other side of the ring. She was standing face-to-face with Rob. The shaggy-haired punk, who had been silent most of the time, addressed her on the microphone before Sarah could form a response to Ricky. "Who the crap are you?" he asked, sneering. Evidently he either wasn't familiar with the rookie wrestler, or wanted to put her down and call her a nobody.

Lisa showed no intimidation, stepping up to the taller man and staring straight up at him. "My name is Lisa Davis," she said, "and I am your worst nightmare." She said it with such a menacing tone in her voice that it took Daniel by surprise. Lisa was one brave girl.

Rob took a step back and laughed. "There's this thing called personal space," he lectured her. "Learn to use it."

"You know what?" Ricky said, before answering his own question. "I've had it with all of you. I'm tired of your hypocrisy, and I'm tired of your deception. Cleveland, you owe it to the fans to tell them the whole story about what happens to people who don't believe what you do—you know, the whole story that plunged our world into war ten years ago."

He turned to Lisa and stepped toward her. "And you, Alicia--"

"Lisa," she corrected.

"Whatever," he replied with a wave of his hand. "I don't know who you think you are, but you'd better think twice before you think you're worthy of sharing a ring with Ricky Ulrich and Rob Nickels."

Lisa made a mock scared face as Ricky turned to Sarah. "And you, Crittenton—these people may be happy you're back on _Slam_, but I'm not. I don't like you, I don't respect you, and I never have. You and Cleveland both are slimy worms, pandering to all the sheep out here that don't have a clue what kind of people they're really cheering for. You are not a person that deserves my respect, and here is something that I do to people like you." Without warning, Ricky backhanded Sarah across the face.

Daniel stood in disbelief. He balled his fists, ready to strike back. No one was getting away with disrespecting and physically assaulting Sarah Crittenton like that. The crowd was booing heavily. But first he gave Sarah a questioning look, as if to say, _Do you want to hit him, or should I?_

Sarah answered that question a moment later, popping Ricky right across the face with a solid right hand. Ricky was staggered by the blow, stumbling back to the ropes. When Sarah made a run at him, he retreated, followed by Rob Nickels. Daniel couldn't help but smile. _No one disrespects Sarah Crittenton and gets away with it._ He walked up to her and gave her a high-five. Lisa was laughing out loud at the fact that Ricky had just run away from a girl.

Sarah's music began to play as Ricky and Rob retreated up the ramp. About halfway up, their expressions changed from shocked to dismissive. Ricky shook his head and turned back with a wave of his hand. Meanwhile, Daniel, Sarah and Lisa stood tall in the ring.

When Ricky and Rob reached the top of the ramp, however, another tune started, one that was quite familiar to Daniel. _Slam _General Manager John Seay, donning a crisp black suit and tie and sporting his usual wild curly, thick hairdo that somehow fit perfectly with his square face. He held a microphone in his hand.

"Well, what a confrontation we have here to start our show," he said. The fans booed him immediately as he spoke. If anyone could be described as a slimy worm, it would be Seay. He spoke with a marked British accent, which accentuated his already smug and arrogant-sounding voice. His smile was twisted, and every expression of his face gave the appearance that he was plotting something evil. The fans absolutely despised him, and so did just about anyone who wasn't a member of the Heels. Seay would fit in perfectly as a Heel himself, if he were a wrestler.

"I see that you three have become quite chummy with each other," he said, addressing Daniel, Lisa and Sarah. "Reminds me of ADH," he commented, scratching his chin, referencing the three-way friendship of Daniel and the women's tag-team champions, Hannah Shannon and Alyssa Chrome. For a time the three had called themselves ADH, after the first letter of each of their names. "Anyway, tonight you three are going to officially team together for the first time." He paused as the crowd showed their approval. "Your opponents will be the former world champion Ricky Ulrich and two of his own chums, the Crystals." Again the crowd cheered, always excited about a new match. The Crystals, Aly and Andrea, were two sisters who regularly teamed together and were both members of the Heels along with Ulrich.

"As for your title shot, Ricky, you will get it tonight." The crowd seemed excited for a Cleveland-Ulrich rematch. "However," Seay continued, trying to quiet the crowd, "it will not be a direct rematch. I understand that you have a rematch clause in your contract, but to be able to use it at Retribution, you will have to win a battle royal which will involve twenty men from both _Slam _and _Crash_. The winner will fight for the world heavyweight championship at Retribution." The fans clearly loved the idea. Daniel did, too. Perhaps someone new would get a well-deserved chance. Ricky, however, was far less pleased. He turned to Seay with a bewildered look.

Seay ignored him. "So Ricky Ulrich, Rob Nickels, you might as well return to the ring, because that match is next." Daniel smiled, making sure to catch Ricky's eye. Ricky was not happy about this turn of events. Rob looked quite a bit more pleased.

As Daniel, Sarah and Lisa departed the ring to go backstage, the entrances of the participants in the battle royal began.

--------------

Now backstage in Daniel's dressing room, the newly-formed tag-team settled down to watch this battle royal.

The rules of a battle royal were simple: Wrestlers fought in the ring not to pin each other, but to throw each other over the top rope. A wrestler was eliminated when he was thrown over the top rope and both of his feet touched the floor. Daniel personally loved being in them, but he was just as satisfied to sit back as the champion and watch this one tonight.

He surveyed the participants, trying to size up which of them would be the biggest contenders in this match, besides Rob and Ricky. They had gotten some big names for this match from _Crash_. He couldn't remember the last time wrestlers from _Crash _had gotten a chance at _Slam_'s title, or in this case, the world heavyweight title.

From _Crash_, there was Grant Black and Simeon Kauffman, whom everyone called Sim. As the current _Crash _champion, Sim was an obvious contender. He was a good guy, a 33-year-old veteran, and a fan favorite. He would gladly give him a title shot. Black, a former multiple-time champion in his own right, was just as loved by the fans as Sim. The two were often a formidable main-event tag-team on Friday nights.

Bill Lansing and Brady Shannon were also considerable contenders. The tall, lean Lansing and the high-flying, risk-taking Shannon had just been in an exhausting twenty-five-minute battle for the International Title, the second-tier title on _Slam_, last night at Wrestlemania, however, so they might be at a disadvantage. Both of them were fan favorites as well, and Daniel would gladly give a title shot to either one.

There was Josh Rankin, the short-stacked but heavyset winner of Money in the Bank last night. He, too, would certainly be fatigued from such a physically demanding match. There was also Andrew Luster, a freckle-faced, 255-pound redhead who was probably the third-tier heel behind Rob and Ricky. Andrew and Daniel had once been tag-team champions, back when Daniel was a Heel. Since Daniel had turned away from the Heels, Andrew never forgave him. Surely he would like nothing better than to beat him for the title and get his own personal "retribution."

Before he could pick up the rest of the men in the ring, the bell rang and the action began. As usual with battle royals, it was utter chaos at the start as wrestlers all over the ring tried to eliminate each other. Within the first minute, Brian Luke, a young rising star and a member of _Crash_'s Heel stable, was thrown out. But within the next few minutes the wrestlers proved to be surprisingly resilient, as no one else was eliminated.

"Wow, these are some good guys they've got you up against," Lisa observed.

"They're all good guys," Daniel replied. His thoughts shifted to the incident in the ring just a few minutes ago. "Hey, you know, that was awesome when you said you were Rob's worst nightmare."

Lisa and Sarah both busted out laughing. "You liked it?" she asked. "Good. I think I intimidated him," she said, satisfied with herself.

"Man, he was shaking in his boots," Daniel replied with a laugh as he and Sarah subtly exchanged a skeptical glance. Lisa was extremely ambitious and fearless, but he hoped her aggressiveness wouldn't come back to bite her sometime.

The next man out of the ring was _Slam_'s resident big man, Bob Ditka. At six-foot-six and close to 300 pounds, he was too much of a threat to the others, who had ganged up on him to take him out. That was good. Despite his kind nature, he was not a man Daniel wanted to face for anything.

Just when his attention began to drift again, Paul Koss's voice became excited as Brady Shannon came within a hair of eliminating Rob Nickels. Nickels had to poke Brady in the eyes to get back in. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the ring, Robbie Kraft, a black-haired punk-rock kid, who was about as well-liked by the fans as a case of pneumonia, dumped Shane Moon, a 250-pound bully from _Crash_, over the top rope.

Koss's voice again raised an octave when Jonah Williamson, the charismatic 20-year-old American Champion of _Crash_, dropkicked Ricky Ulrich and knocked him to the apron. Daniel pounded the side of the sofa with his fist when Ricky re-entered the ring. "So close," he said. "Somebody take him out."

Someone almost did a second later, when Sim rushed up and dumped Ulrich to the apron again, right after he'd gotten back in the ring. Ulrich hung on for dear life, but fortunately for him Sim turned his attention elsewhere. On the ramp side of the ring, Josh Rose, a big young star from _Crash_, hit his finisher, a pump handle slam which he called the Thorny Rose, on Corey Collins, a fellow _Crash _wrestler and a Heel. He wasn't able to eliminate him, though, as Luster snuck up behind him and went on the attack.

"You and Josh would make great partners," Sarah told Daniel. "He's a lot like you."

"Really?"

"Without a doubt. I've been on his brand for a couple of years; I'd know," she reminded him.

"Cool. Hope he comes to _Slam _sometime."

Don Matthews, a guy similar in size to Andrew Luster, about 260 pounds, and Rob Nickels' frequent tag-team partner, was taken out of the match by a clothesline from Kauffman. Dan LaGuerre, a _Slam _wrestler with a notably vicious and ruthless personality and wrestling style, was thrown over the top shortly afterward. Slowly, the ring was thinning out. The broadcasters suddenly cut to a commercial break, leaving Daniel in the dark.

-----------

Paul Koss scratched his thin beard, watching the match closely. Battle royals were always fun matches to call because you never knew when something exciting was going to happen out of nowhere. He was flooded with adrenaline every time a big star nearly got tossed over the top rope, and the rush was always great.

While the TV viewers saw commercials, Paul was able to watch and analyze the match more in-depth. Despite having spent 25 years as a wrestling commentator, even as he neared the age of fifty the job never got old. Neither did his partner, Mark Waller. A former wrestler in his own right, Paul appreciated the youthful enthusiasm that he brought to the table week in and week out. And with the perspective of a wrestler being given to him every week, in addition to having gotten in the ring a few times of his own, he suspected he knew as much about wrestling as any of the men on the roster did—though, of course, he would never have any of their ability.

"These _Crash _guys aren't doing so well," Mark commented.

"Most of them are young and inexperienced," Paul replied. "This is a big match and I don't know how many of them were able to calm the jitters and focus on wrestling."

Mark pointed to Sim Kauffman. "Well, I know one man who isn't young and inexperienced."

Sim was a ten-year veteran who was perfectly capable of wrestling on the higher brand, _Slam_, but was kept on _Crash _to mentor the younger wrestlers. However, he might get his chance to regain a position on _Slam _tonight if he won this battle royal. With a grunt that Paul heard from the table, Kauffman tossed Justin McHart, a reserved and emotionally complex mid-card wrestler of _Slam_, over the top rope.

The crowd erupted in cheers when Grant Black pushed Rob Nickels over the top rope, but when Nickels rolled back into the ring despite several kicks from Black, they groaned. The fans hated Nickels—and Ulrich for that matter—with a passion, and Paul knew that if either man was eliminated the place would explode.

"Man," he said, disappointed. "Someone's got to eliminate that guy."

"Unbiased, Paul; unbiased," Mark cautioned him.

"Aw, to heck with unbiased. You know I'm not unbiased; Auburn knows I'm not unbiased; the fans know I'm not unbiased. If I were unbiased, my whole personality would be altered."

"Well, with all his political issues going on in Philly, I don't know _what _the owner knows about anything that goes on around here."

"Please," Paul retorted, "I was here when the CWF was founded. Auburn knows me, and he's kept me around since 2017 for a reason."

"Whatever you say," Mark conceded.

It was time for them to go back on the air.

"Folks, we're back live here from Milwaukee, on Monday Night _Slam_, here calling a 20-man battle royal for the number-one contendership to Daniel Cleveland's world heavyweight title!" Paul announced.

"We've still got half the people left in this battle royal that started it—" Mark began, but he was cut off by Paul announcing an elimination.

"Jonah Williamson thrown over the top rope by Robbie Kraft!" he shouted as the young _Crash _star hit the floor. "And there's Josh Rose taking out Orlando Gray!" The husky African-American _Slam _wrestler, one of Ricky Ulrich's closest confidants, hit the floor hard on his way down.

He looked for another battle to focus on in the ring. "Jack Jaskolski is just hammering away on Josh Rankin, the winner of the Money in the Bank match last night. Those two have a match scheduled for later tonight, but they're not going to wait to get it on."

"Yeah, Jaskolski is very bitter at his loss last night, and he has vowed to win the Money in the Bank briefcase back from Josh Rankin."

"Tell J.J. good luck with that," Paul quipped.

"Hey, you better watch out. He'll beat the living crap out of you if you call him that," Mark warned him. "He hates that."

"Aw, that's what I have you here for," Paul replied with a smile.

"Right."

Paul spotted something on the right side of the ring, from his vantage point. "Peter Christopher is eliminated by Jaskolski!"

"There goes another young star from _Crash_, quite possibly a future world champion," Mark commented, referring to Christopher. Christopher was a decently big man, near 250 pounds, and his fighting style was tenacious. He shook back his long blond hair as he walked to the back, disappointed at his loss.

"The numbers are dwindling now," Paul said. "And down goes one more!" he called, watching Josh Rose clothesline Robbie Kraft out of the ring.

The crowd gasped as Nickels almost took Shannon out. Paul knew that these guys couldn't last much longer. Many of them had matches that very night or had had very physical matches the previous night. He suspected that the eliminations were going to come quicker as the match went on.

Within the next few minutes, he was right. Bill Lansing, the International Champion, and Corey Collins were the next two to go, followed by a huge crowd pop as Sim Kauffman eliminated Rob Nickels. About half a minute later, Jack Jaskolski and Josh Rankin took each other out at the same time.

Now they were down to six. "One of these six men is going to be fighting for the world heavyweight championship at Retribution," he reminded the viewers.

"All six men pairing off," Mark observed. Shannon battled with Luster, Black with Ulrich, and Kauffman with Rose. "Who's gonna be the next one to fall?"

About a minute later that question was answered as Ulrich hit the Rickroll and tossed Black over the top rope. Almost immediately afterward, Rose reversed an elimination attempt by Kauffman and tossed him over to a big pop.

"What an upset!" Paul shouted. "The young Josh Rose eliminates the veteran Kauffman!"

"Wow!" Mark exclaimed. "Kauffman being a good sport about it, though, giving Rose a nod and walking off to the back."

"Kauffman has over a decade of experience in wrestling, and he knows how to show respect to his fellow man," Paul said. "Now we are down to four."

------------

Daniel remained glued to the TV, his interest piqued. Brady, Ricky, Andrew and Josh Rose were left. He could pick a guy he thought definitely deserved a title shot, a guy Sarah _said _was a good guy, and two Heels whom he sincerely hoped would be utterly defeated right now. His hopes rose as Brady hit a flying kick from the top rope on Andrew Luster, knocking him down. Daniel nodded, impressed. Brady was a guy who seemed to feel the most comfortable when he was doing high-risk moves from the top rope or higher.

Rose was impressive, too. Daniel had seen him before, even spoken with him before, but never paid especially close attention to him. Until now. The guy was a good deal bigger than the other men in the ring, even Luster. Daniel had to guess he was about six-six or six-seven, and certainly upwards of 250 pounds. His thick curly blond hair made him look even taller. He knocked down Luster, not a small man by any means, with a running forearm to his shoulder.

"He has made a lot of progress since last time I saw him, hasn't he?" he asked.

"For sure," Sarah replied. "You might just find out firsthand."

"Good point," Daniel acknowledged.

Ricky and Andrew began to team up on Rose, trying to overwhelm him with punches in the corner. For a moment it seemed like they were going to succeed, until Brady came to the rescue with a big kick to the back of Andrew's head. Andrew struggled to keep his balance, trying desperately not to fall over the top rope. Brady hit a hard right hand to the face, backed up and charged him, looking like he was going for the same move, but Andrew ducked and yanked down the ropes, causing Brady's own momentum to take him over and to the floor.

Or so it seemed. Somehow, Brady managed to grab onto the ropes and pull himself back into the ring using just his arms, skinning the cat. It was a great move; the only problem was that Andrew noticed right away and grabbed Brady by the shoulders, pulling him down to the mat while driving his knees into his back. He called it the Backstabber, borrowing the name from a scripted wrestler in the 2000s that Daniel couldn't recall the name of. With that done, Andrew tossed Brady over the top rope.

"Dang," Daniel said. "He's a great wrestler."

"Well, you might not want to face him, then," Lisa said with a laugh.

"Problem is, any of these three guys are better."

"So what would your choice right now be?" Sarah wondered.

Ricky and Andrew were again trying to double-team the bigger man, Rose. Somehow Rose managed to fight them both off and catch a breather in the corner, but the two Heels came right back on him again.

"I really don't know," he replied. "I guess Rose. A new and fresh opponent would be good, even if he's twice my size."

"It'd be a great match," Sarah offered.

Rose kicked Ricky in the face and lifted up Andrew for that pump handle slam, the Thorny Rose, but Ricky recovered quickly and dropkicked him in the back, taking them _both _over the top rope. Ricky was the winner.

"But then again, classics are always great." She smiled.

"Looks like it's gonna be just what I expected all along. Daniel Cleveland versus Ricky Ulrich at Retribution." He put his hands on his hips and flipped off the TV. "I think I've got it."

After a moment of silence, Lisa turned the conversation to current matters. "Well, tonight, we've all got a match against Ricky Ulrich, and the two Crystals. We'd better get ready."

"Yeah, you've never faced the Crystals before," Sarah told Lisa. "I say we start watching some tapes to show you what they're like."

"Sure," Lisa replied. "Whatever it takes. Oh, and before we do that, what's the policy on intergender match-ups tonight?"

"What?" Daniel asked.

Lisa let out an exasperated sigh. "Do I get to go in there against Ricky Ulrich or what?" Daniel remembered that intergender competition, while rare on _Slam_, was not uncommon on _Crash_.

"If the time is right," Sarah said calmly.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "I know you're a good wrestler, but this time last night he was the world _heavyweight _champion," he said, putting emphasis on the word heavyweight. "And as you saw, he's not afraid to take a cheap shot at a girl."

"Whatever," Lisa said dismissively with a wave of her head.

"Don't take this lightly," Sarah cautioned her. "You've never been in the ring with this kind of championship-caliber talent before. Sorry, but we have more experience than you in this area. So we need you to be cautious, okay?" Daniel almost laughed at the idea of Lisa and cautious being used in the same sentence.

Lisa sighed again. "Okay," she said, "I won't do anything stupid. Let's start getting ready."

-------------

At the top of the hour, Jack Jaskolski once again fumed in his dressing room, kicking over a trash can. He'd not only been eliminated from the battle royal by Rankin, but he'd also just lost a singles match to him. He let out a grunt of frustration. What made this guy so good? It infuriated him. He _knew _he was better than Josh Rankin. He _deserved _that briefcase more than any of the men on this roster, and he knew it, and he knew they all knew it.

He wasn't giving up. Josh Rankin might have pinned him clean tonight, but he wasn't finished with him yet. He exited his locker room door and walked down the hall. He had a visit to pay to a bit of muscle.

--------------

Hannah Shannon polished her new women's tag-team championship belt. It had been a few months since she had held gold, and it felt great to wear it again.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Alyssa Chrome. The tall and muscular girl standing admiring the tag-team title belt had one of her own, as she was Hannah's tag-team partner.

"Yes, it is," she replied. "And we earned it."

"Yes, we did," Alyssa confidently agreed. "No one team can stop us, no two, not even three. Hannah, if we can win a fatal four-way tag match like we did last night, I don't think anything can stop us."

"Well, let's not get overconfident," Hannah cautioned. "That's when mistakes happen." Of the two of them, she knew Alyssa was the more outspoken one, and more prone to making statements that would get people's blood boiling.

"What's up, guys?" The voice was not from Hannah or Alyssa, but from Tiffany Hunter, their partner in tonight's six-woman tag-team match. Tiffany was a good friend of theirs, and in Hannah's opinion, worthy of a women's title shot, though not many people would agree with her. Most people saw her as a mid-card wrestler. She only stood five-foot-four, but she was much stronger than she looked and much tougher than the majority of the women—and men—on the roster. She had a nasty gash on her right arm and a couple of small cuts on her face from a no-disqualification match she'd fought last night against Heel wrestler Kelsey Locket.

"Nothing much," Alyssa answered. "How are you feeling?"

"Banged-up, but decent," she said. "Are we ready?"

"Yes, we are," Alyssa replied, giving Tiffany a high-five. Tying her wavy, soft brown hair in a ponytail, Hannah followed the two out of the dressing room and shut the door behind her.

--------------

"I want you to beat him down next week," Jack told the man standing in front of him, "so I can take him out and get that briefcase."

Don Matthews, the big 6-foot-5, 255-pound bull standing in front of him, folded his arms. "What's in it for me?" he asked, looking annoyed that his time was being wasted.

"Name your price," Jack said.

"What's your offer?" came the terse reply.

Jack reached into his wallet and peeled off a single 1000-dollar bill. He had never done this before. He hoped the big man would find it reasonable.

Instead, Matthews scowled at him and swore. "That's an insult to my intelligence. What a lowball offer. I can barely buy a plane ticket with that crap."

Jack replaced the 1000-dollar bill with a crisp new five-thousand-dollar bill, the one that had just been released last year. "Better?" he asked.

"Let's keep seeing 'em," Matthews countered.

"There's two more coming your way once you finish the job," he replied.

Matthews peered down at the paper in Jack's hand. "I'll take it," he replied. He snatched the bill up and shook Jack's hand. "I'll go talk to Seay right now and set that match up."

Jack nodded and walked out of the dressing room, turning to the left while Matthews turned right, toward Seay's office. Next week it would be Josh Rankin versus Don Matthews in a one-on-one match...and Jack would be sure he was there to pick up the pieces.

-------------

The match was not going as planned. Tiffany's banged-up body had caught up with her, and she was being beaten down by their opponents. In addition to Tiffany's opponent from last night, Kelsey Locket, they were also facing a tag-team of Rebecca Conway and Jennifer Clipper.

Rebecca Conway, the one in the ring right now, was not officially a member of the Heels, but she always seemed to side with the group anyway. She was of average size and strength, just like Hannah, with a little more meat on her bones. She had no outstanding physical or mental attributes—good-looking, but not the hottest woman on the roster; strong, but not a monster; smart, but not a genius.

Clipper, Conway's regular partner, was basically a quicker, more impulsive version of Rebecca. She was about the same size, a little less strong, a little faster. She liked to strike from the air and had some of the most powerful kicks Hannah had seen from a woman.

Kelsey Locket was the most colorful character of the three. She was like a junior Stephanie Aiden, always wearing black eye shadow and dressing in either navy or black—exposing as much of her skin as possible, just like Aiden. It disgusted Hannah, personally. She had no idea why Kelsey exposed herself to be such an object of the lust of the male audience, but there was not much she could understand about the Heels. She was a vicious catfighter, and when she wrestled she would pull hair, rake eyes, claw at her opponent's face, use weapons and attack and isolate body parts—she was incredibly vicious and ruthless. She was one of the least pleasant people in the CWF to have to fight.

Kelsey tagged into the ring and demonstrated those skills, immediately yanking Tiffany's hair and trying to open up a cut on her cheek by repeated punches. Hannah stretched out her arm as far as she could over the ropes, trying to get Tiffany to reach her.

Finally Tiffany dove toward the corner, her arm outstretched, and tagged Alyssa. As the crowd popped heavily, Alyssa entered the ring, only to be stopped by the referee. "What!?" Hannah yelled at the referee.

"I didn't see it," he said, pointing to his eyes. Hannah stomped the mat and nearly swore, but stopped herself. That wasn't a part of her life anymore.

Tiffany tried a kick to Kelsey's thigh, but Kelsey responded with a rake to her eyes. With her opponent blinded and unable to see, Kelsey hit the Work of Art, her name for the classic Stone Cold Stunner finisher she used. Hannah watched helplessly as Tiffany was easily pinned.

She entered the ring with Alyssa and put her hands on her hips, glaring down at Kelsey Locket, who had high-tailed it out of the ring. She knew she had gotten a cheap win. Her wicked smile as she backed up the ramp told the whole story. "Lucky win," Hannah called out, hoping Kelsey could hear her. "Lucky win."

---------------

The main event was in just a few minutes. Daniel, Sarah and Lisa had just witnessed Sim Kauffman's upset victory over Rob Nickels with great delight. Now it was their turn.

"Okay, Lisa, this is the big time. You're on the A-show now, and this is your first chance to show the world that you are someone to be taken seriously," Daniel told her.

"Uh huh," Lisa responded, nodding while hopping from one foot to the other to keep herself limber.

"We're teaming together for the first time, and we're gonna do it right," Sarah declared. "I think we're going to be up any minute now. Let's go."

Daniel opened the door for the women and let them pass through before exiting the room and shutting it behind him. They took a brisk walk toward the backstage area, but Daniel stopped when he heard a familiar voice on a television monitor. "Hey," he said, holding up a hand. "Listen."

Ricky Ulrich and the Crystals were shown on-screen, being interviewed by backstage interviewer James Ray. Ricky was talking. "...I am sick and tired of him, I am sick and tired of Crittenton, and I don't even know the other girl's name, but I'm sick of her too already. Cleveland, Crittenton...other girl...you hypocrites pander to all the sheep out there in those stands, all the blood-ssucking leeches that get their entertainment off of my hard work and sacrifice, and you have the gall to go and tell people that you are the possessors of righteousness and truth, that you have the moral high ground."

Aly Crystal, the older of the two Crystal sisters, took her turn to speak. Both her and her sister were lean and tall—they almost looked like twins, if not for Andrea's blonder hair and slightly shorter stature. "Ricky Ulrich is going to be world heavyweight champion again at Retribution, and although he's already fought a match tonight, he has the guts to go and do it again. And so do we. And despite the pain and hardship we're already suffering, Ricky Ulrich is going to be the new world champion, and we are going to take back the women's tag-team titles that are rightfully ours. But tonight, we're going to start with beating you."

Lisa scoffed as they walked off-camera. "Listen to them," she said.

"You know, she has a good point," Sarah told Daniel. "Ricky's already fought tonight. Did you notice any particular weakness, any body part that was attacked in the battle royal?"

Daniel thought a moment. "I can't remember," he lamented. "Hopefully once we get into the full swing of the match, we'll find out."

The Crystals' entrance music suddenly boomed over the loudspeakers. "We'd better get to our positions," Daniel said. "God, be with us."

---------------

Bill Lansing foisted his International Championship belt over his shoulder as he prepared to exit his dressing room. Tired and sore after another grueling match with Brady Shannon, he had no doubt that he had earned the right to wear that belt.

On second thought, maybe he shouldn't parade it around. He didn't want to look arrogant, especially if he came across Brady somehow. The guy had fought long and hard, and he didn't deserve to have the belt waved in his face. Sighing, he set the belt down on the bench and shook his head. In the last two days he'd seen Brady pull off incredible maneuvers, risking his own life and limb to win that title. He'd competed hard and taken Bill to the limit, twice—in a nearly half-hour match at Wrestlemania last night, and then tonight, a fifteen-minute repeat. The thought of the match brought the pain flooding back to Bill's ribs and shoulders.

He abruptly stood and exited his room, sans the belt. He was looking forward to seeing the main event, which involved competition he might soon be facing. As the International Champion, the official second-best on the _Slam _roster, a world championship shot couldn't be too far off. He walked up and down the halls, scanning for a good monitor and a comfortable resting spot to watch from.

Just as he found one in a narrow, well-lit corridor, who was standing there but Brady Shannon himself. Surprise, surprise. Things always seemed to work out like this for him. Brady had also changed back to street clothes, and he was leaning against the wall opposite the monitor.

"Sup?" Bill asked, startling Brady.

"Hey, man," Brady responded. His face was sullen. He did a double take of Bill. "Where's your belt?"

Bill sided up alongside Brady. They were silent for a moment, watching Daniel Cleveland, Sarah Crittenton and Lisa Davis make their entrance. Finally he extended his hand. "I know I already shook your hand out there in the ring, but I wanted to congratulate you on a fantastic match."

Brady accepted the handshake. "Thanks," he simply said.

"And if anyone deserves that title, I think it's you," Bill offered.

Brady's eyes seemed to brighten a bit. "Thanks, dude. I appreciate that." He nodded. "Really, I do." He paused and stared down at the floor, looking like he was about to say something else. "You might just get a third match against me. Next week I'm in a number-one contender's match to see who gets to face you at Retribution." He smiled slyly.

That wasn't news to Bill. There was always a number-one contender's match. And there was absolutely no reason Brady shouldn't be in it. Could he beat the high-flyer a third time? "Well, if you win, I'll be looking forward to it," he replied.

They were silent for another minute before Brady questioned, "Wanna watch this? I have a feeling that this could be some of our competition in the very near future."

"Sure," Bill replied, folding his arms and leaning back against the wall. "I have that same feeling."

-------------

Sarah Crittenton stood between her two tag-team partners, Daniel and Lisa. To her left, Daniel raised his world heavyweight championship belt in the air. He did it very slowly and deliberately, staring straight at Ricky as he did it. When he handed the belt over to the referee, he crossed his arms in a T-shape, again not taking his eyes off of Ricky. She took a step backward, expecting Ricky and Daniel to butt heads in center-ring any moment now.

But as Daniel took a step forward to meet Ricky in the middle of the ring, Ricky retreated, stepping through the ropes and allowing Aly Crystal to begin the match instead.

That was fine. They had agreed that Daniel would start the match if possible; otherwise, the task would fall to her. Daniel and Lisa stepped through the ropes and onto the apron. The bell rang three times, signifying the start of this main event.

Sarah and Aly locked up in center-ring as Daniel eagerly looked on. Decked out in her usual modest red wrestling attire, a full tanktop and long pants, Sarah presented a color contrast to the baby-blue-donning Aly. Aly had a couple inches' height on Sarah, but Sarah was able to work her opponent into the corner despite the leverage disadvantage.

They broke clean and locked up again. This time Aly put Sarah in a hammerlock, which Sarah promptly reversed into her own. Aly tried to take Sarah down with a waistlock, but she turned it around into a pinning combination, scoring a two-count. Sarah followed it up with a few more mat wrestling moves, getting another near-fall. A backslide pin, where she linked arms standing back-to-back and pulled her over her back so her shoulders were on the mat, got her another two-count. She ducked an attempt at a stiff-arm clothesline and rolled Aly up, reaching up between her legs and pulling her backwards, to get another near-fall.

Aly, frustrated, stomped over to her corner and tagged out to her sister in a huff. Andrea entered cautiously, taking about an hour to lock up with Sarah, dodging her by grabbing the ropes two or three times like a coward. Lisa groaned in frustration out loud the third time. "Just hit her, Sarah!" she shouted.

Finally, Andrea locked up with Sarah and took advantage with a keylock. She tried to back Sarah into the corner, but Sarah countered the hold and shoved her away. When Andrea charged her again, she hit an arm drag, briefly locking arms with Andrea just long enough to flip her over onto her back. She repeated the move when Andrea charged her again, and tried to apply an armbar, straightening out Andrea's arm and trapping it between her legs. Andrea scrambled up before Sarah could apply the dangerous submission. She went to tag her partners, but Sarah quickly prevented that by grabbing her in a headlock. Leading the younger Crystal to their corner, she gave an excited Lisa a tag.

While Sarah held Andrea back, utilizing the five seconds she was allowed to remain in the ring after tagging out, Lisa gave her a toe kick to the gut and a chop to the collar. Andrea recoiled at the latter move, gritting her teeth in pain and walking to a corner to attempt to recover. Lisa didn't give her a chance, though, as she whipped Andrea around and gave her two more stinging chops. The crowd yelled "Woo!" with each shot.

Lisa hesitated, apparently unsure of what to do next, and that cost her. Andrea drove a knee into her stomach and hit a backhand chop of her own after forcing Lisa into the corner. Despite being caught by surprise, Lisa didn't give in, and she broke out of the corner with a clothesline, knocking Andrea down. She got up too quickly for Lisa to cover, so Lisa scoop slammed her and hit an elbow drop on her chest, which did get her a two-count. Andrea tried to thumb Lisa in the eyes, but Lisa stuck her hand out in front of her nose, blocking her fingers as they came just millimeters short of her eyes. The crowd loved the amusing textbook block, almost never used in wrestling, and gave her a huge pop. She responded with a left-handed punch to the face, and when Andrea tried to scamper away to her corner once again, Lisa took her down again with a side headlock takedown. Keeping the headlock applied tight, she held her opponent down and tried to pin her, but no such luck.

Lisa was doing better than he expected, and they definitely had the upper hand. Daniel settled into his position on the apron and anxiously awaited the time when he would step in that ring face-to-face with Ricky Ulrich.

------------

Hannah, Alyssa and Tiffany watched the main event together on a monitor in Tiffany's dressing room. Hannah was still wearing her bright red wrestling gear, while the other two had switched to street clothes. Hannah was intrigued at the match-up.

"I had no idea how good Lisa was till we faced her in that fatal four-way last night," Alyssa commented.

"Me either," Hannah agreed. "She and Sarah make a great team."

"Good tag-team partners for Daniel?" Alyssa wondered. Hannah didn't say anything for a moment, so Alyssa continued, "New tag-team partners for Daniel?"

Hannah peered at the screen, looking the two over. Sarah she had known for years, but Lisa she'd only met once, aside from fighting her last night. "I don't know about new," she said, "but definitely good."

Alyssa turned toward her. "Remember ADH?" she asked.

Hannah gave her a perplexed look. "Do I remember? It was only a year ago! How could I forget?"

"I.d.k.," Alyssa replied, spreading her hands.

"You guys are great," Tiffany, sitting between the two, chimed in.

"5-1 as a team," Hannah cited the statistic.

"We haven't teamed together in months, though! We hardly even hang out anymore," Alyssa complained.

"Well," Hannah reasoned, "he does have a girlfriend..."

"So what? He had a girlfriend when we started ADH. And besides, she's on Crash."

"Calm down, Alyssa; we're fine. We just talked to him last night. If you really want to talk to him, then do it! It's not that hard."

Tiffany's eyes suddenly lit up. "You like him!" she accused.

"What?" Alyssa replied, shocked. "I do not!"

Hannah looked her friend in the eye. Alyssa knew not to lie around her, because she could spot a lie from a mile away. She appeared totally sincere.

"No, she doesn't like him," Hannah said. "She just misses him. And I understand." She reached out and put a hand on her friend's knee.

"Just because we haven't teamed for a few months doesn't mean we've stopped being friends," she reassured her. She grinned. "Besides, remember who we beat at Wrestlemania?" She pointed to the screen, where Aly was kicking a downed Lisa.

"Technically, we didn't PIN them," Alyssa reminded her. "We pinned HER," she said, pointing to Andrea, standing on the apron.

"Hey, we are the better team; or at least last night we were. And I bet if there was another night, we could be again."

-----------

Daniel still had not gotten into the match-up. He waited on the apron for a tag from Lisa, trying to keep himself from becoming impatient. He glanced at the match timer on the timekeeper's table. Six minutes. Six minutes and he hadn't yet been tagged in. Lisa was getting pounded by her opponents. Andrea now had her in a rest hold, trying to wear Lisa down while giving herself a breather. "Come on, break out! You can do it!" he shouted. Sarah shouted similar encouragement on the other side of the corner. "You've got this!"

Lisa, egged on by the crowd, Daniel and Sarah, began shaking, trying to break free from the hold. With a sharp elbow to the ribs, she did, and staggered over to their corner. She slapped Daniel's outstretched hand to tag him in, and Ricky tagged in as well. Daniel walked up to meet him center-ring. He drilled his eyes into Ricky's. His foe's eyes showed resentment. He would give him something to resent.

"You don't show that kind of disrespect to Sarah Crittenton," Daniel warned, his face inches from Ricky's, referring to his backhand shot earlier.

"I disrespect who I don't respect. Do something about it," he challenged.

Daniel immediately initiated a lock-up, and after a mat wrestling exchange in which each got a couple near-falls on the other, he decided to throw mat wrestling out the window and landed a hard right to Ricky's jaw.

Seeing that Ricky was unprepared for the blow, he pressed his advantage, landing a flurry of punches, knocking him into the corner and eventually down to a sitting position. With Ricky caught way off guard, Daniel quickly threw him over the top rope and outside of the ring. Once there, Ricky surprised him with a quick left jab, but he recovered quickly and answered with force, slamming Ulrich's head into the security barrier separating the fans from the ring.

Rolling him into the ring, he covered him for a two-count. Knowing he had to stay on the offensive, he stood up for a second and then dropped his knee right back down on Ricky's chest, before throwing several right hands at him. Another cover resulted in another two-count. This was going quite well.

Daniel forced Ricky into the corner and hit a hard chop to the chest. He heard the smack as flesh struck flesh, causing the crowd to shout "woo!" as always. Suddenly, Daniel caught a kick to the gut unprepared, and Ricky slammed his head into the turnbuckle. He started in with a couple punches of his own, but Daniel scrapped right back, not about to allow Ricky to gain the advantage. He felt a drop of blood run down his forehead, evidently opened back up by one of the punches. Daniel knocked Ricky down with a right hand and made a cover for a near-fall. He set up the former champion for a suplex, hitting the move snap-style. The suplex brought Ricky close to their corner, and Daniel once again covered for two.

Keeping his foot on a downed Ricky's chest, Daniel looked toward Sarah. She was reaching out her hand. "Come on," she coaxed. With a look at the crowd, who seemed to approve of the idea, Daniel tagged Sarah into the match. Immediately, to the delight of the crowd, she kicked Ricky in the chest and was right on top of him with a flurry of punches to the face. She covered him twice for subsequent near-falls.

Not slowing one bit, Sarah waited for him to get up and continued throwing punches at his face. Ricky had no time to defend himself. Their fight carried over into Daniel's corner again, and Sarah tagged Lisa into the match.

Lisa was, of course, all too eager to step into the ring. Practically bouncing with glee, she followed Sarah's example, unloading on Ricky with a relentless string of punches to the face. When he slumped to a sitting position, she yanked on his gelled and spiked black hair to force him to his feet. Daniel's heart stopped as Ricky reared back to throw a punch at Lisa, but fortunately, she ducked. He breathed a sigh of relief. He reached out his hand and yelled, "Tag!" Lisa had had her fun. Now she needed to get out of the ring before she got hurt.

But she didn't seem to hear him, or Sarah for that matter, who was shouting the same thing. Instead, she let Ricky's momentum carry him out of the corner, maneuvered behind him, and rolled him up for a quick one-count. "Lisa!" Daniel called again, but she again ignored him and kicked Ricky in the leg. Only when her kick didn't faze him as much as she evidently thought it would did she retreat to their corner. "Tag me," Daniel said in as commanding a voice as she could. Lisa turned in his direction and Daniel held out his hand, palm up. "Take a breather." He made a serious face, hoping to show her he meant business.

Lisa got the message and slapped his hand, tagging him into the match. Daniel entered the ring, eager to continue the fight with a weakened opponent and perhaps even finish the match off. But just about as soon as he stepped in the ring, he was surprised by a harsh impact to his ribs that knocked him right down to the mat. Not Ricky, but _Aly_ had just speared him and knocked him down to the mat, and now she was unleashing a tirade of punches, grunting as she landed each blow.

The blows hurt, though not as much as Ricky's, but he quickly put a stop to them by lifting his knee and popping his hip to the side, rolling the hundred-pound woman off him. Once he shook off the cobwebs, he saw an opportunity. He grabbed a retreating Aly's leg and pulled her back, rolling her up in a pin attempt. It didn't work, as she kicked out at two. He reached for her legs again, but this time she lifted a kneecap right into his face. The strike surprised him and staggered him back a bit. When he took a step forward, she reached a hand into his face, clawing at him with long fingernails.

Blinded momentarily, Daniel bent over and covered his eyes. He tried to rub them to alleviate the pain, but before he could do that a hard blow to his back nearly knocked the wind out of him. He crashed to the mat, rolling onto his back. Still struggling to see, his sense of pain wasn't dulled a bit as he felt every fist that connected with the wound on his forehead. Ricky--he assumed--was trying to open it back up.

His assumption was confirmed when Ricky yanked him to his feet and Daniel caught a glimpse of his face. Ricky held his head down at his waist level while Daniel stood up. Unable to get upright, Daniel threw a punch at his stomach. Ricky recoiled momentarily, but answered with two clubbing blows to the back. Daniel grunted in pain as each one made contact. Not worth the punch.

Ricky finally did let him get upright, only to shove him into the ropes. As Daniel's momentum bounced him off the ropes, Ricky lowered his head and lifted him over his back, flipping Daniel completely over in a back body drop. He hit the mat hard on his back, sending a sharp sting of pain up his spine. Ricky was right on top of him for the cover. One, two--but Daniel kicked out in time.

Ricky switched to the lower part of his body, attacking the same knee he had last night. Daniel yelped in pain as his foot came down right on his kneecap. When he turned onto his stomach, Ricky lifted his right leg high in the air and slammed it down to the mat, further injuring his knee.

Daniel rolled over to the ropes, but as he hung on to them, Ricky yanked both his legs and pulled him free, causing him to crash down on the mat hard on his back again. Ricky covered again for two. Then he grabbed Daniel's right knee and kicked it again. All the pain from last night was coming back to him now. He was getting frustrated.

After another kick, Ricky wrapped his legs around Daniel's, stretching his right leg out and hyperextending it in a figure-four leglock. In incredible pain, Daniel yelled and gritted his teeth. This hold was horribly painful when applied right, and Ricky was applying it perfectly.

Worrying for the safety of his tendons and ligaments, which felt like they were being stretched to the limit, Daniel tried to slide toward the ropes. But he was in the middle of the ring. No way was he going to get there. He had one more line of defense.

He reached up with his right arm and used it for help as he tried to turn onto his stomach. If he could turn onto his stomach, he'd reverse the pressure. Come on! With all his strength, he fought the pain shooting through his legs and the urge to tap out. But after what seemed like an eternity, his hand slapped the mat.

His left hand slapped the mat once as he completed the turn onto his stomach. Reversing the pressure, he now heard Ricky cry out in pain as his knee was briefly hyperextended. The hold was released, and Daniel tried to inch toward his corner. He needed a tag.

He was about three-quarters of the way across the ring when his right knee was pulled back, forcing him back into the middle of the ring. Then that same knee was lifted up and slammed into the mat, sending extremely painful shock waves throughout Daniel's leg. He turned around to see that it was Andrea who'd slammed his knee into the mat, not Ricky.

Andrea kicked his knee again. If you had an advantage like an injured body part, man or woman, you had a huge jump on your opponent. With another grunt of pain, Daniel looked for an opportunity to take the woman down and escape for a tag.

As she approached again, he saw his chance. Catching his legs in hers, he tripped her up in a drop toe hold, causing her face to hit the mat. He'd caught her unprepared, and now he could make a tag. Moving away from Andrea, he once again inched toward his corner. He heard the shouts of encouragement from both Lisa and Sarah, urging him to make the tag.

But then he felt another blow to his knee. He turned over and saw that Ricky had tagged back in. Ricky lifted him up to his feet and landed a solid punch to his cheekbone. Daniel turned away from the blow, stumbling into the ropes. Ricky pulled him by the wrist back out toward him, turning him around and shoving his back, pushing him toward the ropes on the other end of the ring.

Daniel let his momentum take him to the ropes, and when he bounced off them, he was ready. Ignoring the pain shooting through his knee, he hurled his whole body at Ricky, throwing his forearm into his face. Ricky went down hard.

Daniel lay on his back on the mat, still. He was vaguely aware of the ref beginning a ten-count, but all he was focused on was a tag. He lay still for a count of five, panting as he tried to catch his breath. Then, with all the strength he had, he reached back and kicked, pushing himself off the ground and making sure to land on his left leg when he landed on his feet. Wiping the blood from his forehead with his left arm and reaching out with his right, he tagged Sarah into the match.

Once their palms made contact, he dropped to his knees. That sent waves of pain through his right knee again, and he grunted while wincing in pain. Lisa bent over toward him, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Are you okay? Can you walk?" she implored him with a tone of urgency, or at least energy, in her voice.

He groaned and rose to his feet, keeping weight off his right leg. "I'm good," he told her.

"You sure?"

Daniel flexed his knee, trying to work it off. "Yeah, I'm sure."

------------

Meanwhile, at the commentators' table, both of the men came alive at the sight of the women entering the ring to do battle. "Crittenton is fresh, and she's lighting 'em up!" Paul proclaimed.

"What a powerslam!" Mark exclaimed as Sarah lifted Aly up and twisted around, bodyslamming her into the mat.

"Here's the cover! Could it be over here?" Paul wondered aloud.

Andrea came rushing into the ring as soon as the count started, no doubt looking to break the cover.

"Davis cuts off Crystal at the pass!" Paul exclaimed as the energetic rookie nailed Crystal in the head with a dropkick, knocking her down and out of the ring. The Bradley Center crowd erupted in cheers.

Those cheers changed to disappointed groans when Aly kicked out of the cover despite the failed interference. "Crystal able to kick out of that powerslam anyway."

The crowd groaned again, along with Paul, this time for a different reason. "Oh! Ulrich just knocked Davis down from behind!"

"Man, what a hard shot to her back; he showed no--"

"And here's Cleveland back in, and he takes Ulrich down and right out of the ring!" Paul interjected. "It's breaking down here in Milwaukee!"

Back in the ring, Sarah Crittenton still had the advantage. Not allowing herself to be distracted by the interference around her, she turned Aly onto her stomach, trapped her left arm between her knees, and locked both arms around Aly's face. "The SCF!" Paul called. "Crittenton's got that crossface submission locked in!"

"There's nowhere for Crystal to go!" Mark exclaimed.

Off-camera, not shown on the monitors, Daniel gave Ricky a German suplex on the outside, causing Ricky's neck and upper back to hit the floor hard.

"Crystal has no one to save her!" Paul informed the viewers.

"And she's tapping!" Indeed, Aly's hand tapped the mat several times, signifying her submission. The referee ordered the bell rung, and Sarah Crittenton's music began to play.

-----------

Daniel rolled back into the ring and joined his two teammates, who were hugging in celebration. "We did it guys," he said from his knees. "First time together as a team--" he stopped, pausing to catch his breath--"and we got the win. Nice tapout, Sarah."

"Thanks."

"And nice job, Lisa. You hung in there with the best of them." He rose to his feet.

"I totally want to do this again soon!" she exclaimed. She reached toward him and embraced him. "This was an awesome night. We totally put them in their place."

He exchanged a hug with Sarah as well. "It's good to be back on the same show," he said.

"Definitely." She pulled back and smiled.

The referee handed Daniel his world heavyweight championship belt and grabbed his wrist, along with Sarah's. He raised both their arms in the air to signify their victory. Right on cue, the ring announcer proclaimed, "Here are your winners...Lisa Davis, Daniel Cleveland and Sarah Crittenton!"

Daniel, Sarah and Lisa remained raising each other's arms. Exchanging one last group hug, Daniel told them, "You guys are great teammates." And they were. He hoped this wouldn't be the last time they teamed together. He realized now just how much he'd missed having Sarah on the same show as him.

The three separated and began to interact with the fans at ringside. As Daniel slapped the hands of several fans, he spotted a little boy. The little guy was pointing at the belt over his shoulder. He held out the belt for the boy to touch. It was the thrill of the little kid's life. Daniel gave him a smile and then moved to the left, continuing to slap the hands of eager fans. Tonight was over. He looked forward to what next week would bring.


End file.
